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“You’re so calm and quiet, you never say. A sterling piece of literature from a master novelist. Heartwarming, in parts amusing, a fable of self and disparate components, and hope and despair. Things spin out of control though for Griet there will be happy ending. Griet’s sister dies of the plague, and things grow more difficult for Griet, in her place of work, and in the circumstances of her family.īut the novel reaches its climax when Vermeer coerces Griet into being the model for one of his most ambitious works. Griet is wooed by Pieter, the handsome son of the local butcher, while Griet’s parents worry she is losing her soul in the ostentatious Vermeer household. “He saw things in a way that others did not, so that a city I had lived in all my life seemed a different place, so that a woman became beautiful with the light on her face.” Soon Griet starts helping Vermeer in making paints and modelling for his painting which strains his relationship with his wife. One of Griet’s jobs is to clean his studio and meticulously place the things back where they were initially. Vermeer is an artist and doesn’t like his studio to be messed with. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier is about Griet, who, at the age of sixteen, becomes a maid at the Vermeers’ to provide financial support to her family after her father has an accident at his workplace and is no longer able to work and support his family. The remarkable author Tracey Chevalier fleshes out and embellishes the story who the girl in the painting by Johannes Vermeer could be. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier is a sharp, sensitive and absorbing novel of 17th century Netherlands, combining history art and fiction. Then Vermeer employs her as his assistant–and ultimately has Griet sit for him as a model.īook Review: Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier First, the 16-year-old narrator becomes increasingly intimate with her master. When Griet, the novel’s quietly perceptive heroine, is hired as a servant, turmoil follows. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier centers on Vermeer’s prosperous Delft household during the 1660s. His portrait of the anonymous Girl with a Pearl Earring has exerted a particular fascination for centuries – and it is this magnetic painting that lies at the heart of Tracy Chevalier’s second novel of the same title. Yet Vermeer’s extraordinary paintings of domestic life, with their subtle play of light and texture, have come to define the Dutch golden age. The meager facts of his biography have been gleaned from a handful of legal documents. With precisely 35 canvases to his credit, the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer represents one of the great enigmas of 17th-century art. Narrator: First Person by a sixteen-year-old girl named Grietīook Summary: Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier She must somehow secretly pose for the crucial painting without the knowledge of Vermeer's wife, avoid Van Ruijven's grasp, and protect herself from the cruel gossip of the world of a 17th century servant.Theme: Envy, Religion, Desire, Creativity, Work, Class and Power Vermeer's wealthy patron and sole means of support, Van Ruijven, commissions him to paint Griet with the intent that he will have her for himself before it is finished. Griet, played by Scarlett Johansson, is a maid in the house of painter Johannes Vermeer, played by British actor Colin Firth. This masterful film attempts to recreate the mysterious girl's life. Little is known about the girl in the painting, it is speculated that she was a maid who lived in the house of the painter along with his family and other servants, though there is no historical evidence. This film, adapted from a work of fiction by author Tracy Chevalier, tells a story about the events surrounding the creation of the painting "Girl With a Pearl Earring" by 17th century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer.